7.  The applicant was born in 1942 and lives in Grozny.
8.  At the material time the applicant lived with his family in his own house at 148 Klyuchevaya Street in the Staropromyslovskiy District of Grozny, in the residential quarter referred to by the local residents as Ivanovo. The applicant has two sons and two daughters. The oldest son, Magomed Umarov, born in 1975, was a fourth-year student at the Grozny Oil Institute. In November 1999 the applicant and his family left Grozny because of the shelling and lived in railway carriages in a camp for internally displaced persons in Ingushetia. In February 2000 the applicant’s mother died and he and his family came back to Chechnya to bury her. They then remained in Grozny.
9.  On 27 May 2000 at around 6 a.m., when the applicant and his family were asleep at home, a group of men in camouflage uniforms arrived in a Ural military vehicle at 148 Klyuchevaya Street. In his submissions before the Court the applicant also referred to statements of his neighbours to the effect that there had been another car in the street – a UAZ vehicle with the number 469. The men were armed with automatic firearms and some of them were masked. According to the applicant, they were federal servicemen, whilst the Government claimed that they were “unidentified persons”.
10.  The men entered the applicant’s house, having broken down the door. According to the applicant, the first man who entered the house was tall and had a bright complexion and blue eyes. The applicant found out later that the man’s name was Yuriy. The men spoke Russian without an accent. They threatened the applicant’s wife and daughters with firearms, swore at them and beat the applicant. They also searched the house. The men then dragged the applicant out to the courtyard, kicked him and beat him with rifle butts. There were about 30 masked men in the courtyard. The applicant enclosed statements of his wife and daughter corroborating his account of the events.
11.  Magomed Umarov slept in an extension to the house located in the same courtyard. He rushed out into the courtyard, screaming “Why are you beating him?” According to the applicant, the men seized him, beat him and threw him into the Ural truck in which they had arrived. The vehicle had no registration plates. The men then left. Magomed Umarov was not allowed to dress or to put shoes on. Later that day the men returned and collected his son’s passport and student identity card issued by the Grozny Oil Institute. The applicant has had no news of his son since then.
12.  The applicant’s brother immediately took him to Grozny hospital no. 3 where he underwent a medical examination and was diagnosed with bruises on his face, chest and feet and the fracture of two ribs. The applicant received first aid at the hospital and was then released.
13.  In the meantime the applicant’s neighbours noted that the Ural truck in which Magomed Umarov had been taken away bore the inscription “Maestro”. According to the applicant, the inscription indicated that the vehicle belonged to the Temporary Department of the Interior of the Staropromyslovskiy District (временный отдел внутренних дел Старопромысловского района – “the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD”). The Government claimed that the vehicle referred to by the applicant had not been listed among those belonging to the federal forces.
14.  The applicant’s relatives and neighbours went to the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD and to the local military commander’s office, which were only 100 metres away from the applicant’s house. The officials there did not tell them anything and advised them to apply to the Grozny prosecutor’s office (прокуратура г. Грозного).
15.  On the same day at about 9 a.m. the applicant and his relatives went to the Grozny prosecutor’s office. He met the Grozny prosecutor, B., and submitted a written complaint about the attack on his house, his beatings and his son’s detention. He requested that those responsible be identified and prosecuted and that his son’s whereabouts be established.
16.  According to the applicant, the prosecutor immediately summoned the head and senior officers of the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD and berated them in his presence for “dirty work in masks” and that during that meeting the deputy head of the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD warned the personnel of the VOVD about the events by telephone. After the meeting the prosecutor, a senior investigator from his office, the applicant and the others went to the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD and to the military commander’s office of the Staropromyslovskiy District.
17.  At the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD the applicant and his wife identified one of the servicemen who had beaten him that morning at his house. The officers of the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD explained to the prosecutor that they had conducted two “special operations” in the Ivanovo quarter that morning, but that they knew nothing about the Ural truck with an inscription “Maestro”. According to the applicant, the deputy military commander of the Staropromyslovskiy District who introduced himself as Valeriy invited the prosecutor, investigators and the identified officers from the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD for a separate talk, first on the spot and then at the location of the nearest military unit in the building of a local concert hall. They questioned the officers about what they had seen or heard that morning. Thereafter the prosecutor and the investigator assured the applicant that everything would be “sorted out” and left.
18.  The applicant returned home and learnt that on the same morning two other men had been detained in their quarter, the M. brothers. They were released four days later, apparently for a ransom, and told the applicant that they had been detained in a ground pit together with the applicant’s son. There had been ten persons in the pit. The M. brothers told him that they had been brought there with bags over their heads, but believed that it was at the Khankala military base, the headquarters of the Russian military in Chechnya, because they could hear helicopters landing and taking off, and because they had crossed some railway lines on the way. Furthermore, when Magomed Umarov and two other persons had been taken out of the pit, somebody said: “Take them to the Khankala post!”. Twelve days later another young man who had been detained in a Grozny suburb on 25 May 2000 and then released met with the applicant and told him that he had been detained with his son in a pit in terrible conditions and that his son had asked him to do everything possible for his release.
19.  The applicant continued the search for his son. On numerous occasions, both in person and in writing, he applied to prosecutors at various levels, to the Ministry of the Interior, to courts and the administrative authorities in Chechnya and beyond. In dozens of letters addressed to the authorities the applicant stated the facts of his son’s detention and asked for assistance and details on the investigation. He also wrote about his son’s alleged detention at the Khankala military base, referring to the witnesses who had been released, allegedly, for a ransom. Most of the letters were submitted by the applicant during his visits to officials in an attempt to find out Magomed Umarov’s whereabouts. The applicant has submitted copies of some of those letters to the Court. The applicant was given hardly any substantive information concerning his son’s disappearance and the investigation into these events. On several occasions he received copies of letters by which his requests had been forwarded to the different prosecutors’ services.
20.  According to the applicant, during his visits to the prosecutors’ offices he had received hints on several occasions that he should not complain about his son’s abduction, but should rather, like the relatives of those who had been released, seek “middlemen” who could help him find his son, and that otherwise his son could “disappear”. The applicant allegedly tried to act through “middlemen” but failed.
21.  On 28 May 2000 a number of residents of the Staropromyslovskiy District signed a petition addressed to the military commanders of the Staropromyslovskiy District and of Chechnya, with a copy to the Russian President. They complained of a “bullying attitude” on the part of the military stationed in the Staropromyslovskiy District, which included systematic and open extortion of money, cigarettes and alcohol at check-points, disregard of traffic regulations by the drivers of large military vehicles, random shooting and shelling both day and night and robbery and beatings during so-called “sweeping” operations. They referred, in particular, to the beating of the applicant and his son on 27 May 2000 and the absence of information about the latter’s whereabouts since his apprehension.
22.  In a letter of 16 June 2000 the applicant requested the military commander of Chechnya to assist him in locating his son. The commander replied that the Grozny prosecutor’s office (прокуратура г. Грозного) and the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD were responsible for investigating the applicant’s allegations. He further informed the applicant that following the residents’ petition of 28 May 2000 the superiors of the local detachments of the Ministry of the Interior had discussed the issues raised and increased control over their staff at check-points.
23.  On 9 September 2000 the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic (прокуратура Чеченской Республики – “the Republican prosecutor’s office”) informed the applicant that on 30 May 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office had opened a criminal investigation into his son’s abduction and that the criminal case file had been assigned the number 12050.
24.  On 19 September 2000 the head of the criminal investigation service of the Chechen Department of the Interior informed the applicant that his letter of 27 June 2000 had been forwarded to the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD for the purposes of organising the search for his son.
25.  By letter of 25 October 2000 the Republican prosecutor’s office forwarded the applicant’s complaint to the Grozny prosecutor’s office “for examination”.
26.  On 14 November 2000 the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic forwarded the applicant’s complaint concerning the inefficiency of the investigation into his son’s disappearance to the Republican prosecutor’s office.
27.  On 15 November 2000 and 12 February 2001 the applicant complained to the military prosecutor of the Chechen Republic (военный прокурор Чеченской Республики) about the attack on his house, his beatings and his son’s detention, as well as of inefficiency in the investigation and asked for help in finding his son.
28.  On 27 November 2000 the Republican prosecutor’s office informed the applicant that following his complaint “the decision to suspend investigation was quashed and the case file remitted for further investigation with instructions to take more active steps”. The letter did not indicate the date on which the decision to suspend the investigation had been taken or the date on which the proceedings had been resumed and contained no other details.
29.  By letter of 30 November 2000 the Republican prosecutor’s office referred the applicant’s complaint concerning his son’s detention and disappearance to the Grozny prosecutor’s office.
30.  On 19 December 2000 the military prosecutor’s office of military unit no. 20102 (военная прокуратура – войсковая часть 20102) referred the applicant’s complaint to the Grozny Temporary Office of the Interior (временный отдел внутренних дел г. Грозного). The letter stated that there had been no grounds to send the applicant’s complaint to the military prosecutor’s office of military unit no. 20102 since it had not been established that military personnel had been involved in the abduction of the applicant’s son.
31.  On 21 December 2000 the applicant wrote to the Memorial Human Rights Centre and to the Russian Commissioner for Human Rights.
32.  According to the applicant, in late February 2001 he found out that there were a number of unidentified corpses in the premises of a nearby railway station. The applicant went there and saw around 60 bodies that had been taken from the mass grave near the village of Dachnoye. Some of them showed signs of torture, their legs and hands were tied with iron wire. One of the corpses resembled that of the applicant’s son, as it had clothes similar to those Magomed Umarov had been wearing on the day of his detention. The applicant, however, was unable to identify the body, as its head was missing. He felt unwell and left. The next day the applicant returned with his wife to study the body, but was unable to find it. He was told that the corpses had been taken to another village, situated 15-20 km way from Grozny. The applicant went there and was informed that the remains had been photographed and then buried. The applicant looked through the photographs but did not find the headless body.
33.  By letter of 1 April 2001 the Grozny prosecutor’s office informed the applicant that they had studied his complaint, quashed the decision to suspend the criminal investigation and remitted the case for further investigation. The letter did not indicate the date on which the decision to suspend the investigation had been taken or the date on which the proceedings had been resumed and contained no other details.
34.  On 29 May 2001 the Republican prosecutor’s office replied to the applicant’s complaint, stating that the decision to suspend the investigation had been quashed and the case had been remitted for further investigation. The investigation was being supervised by the Republican prosecutor’s office. The letter did not indicate the date on which the decision to suspend the investigation had been taken or the date on which the proceedings had been resumed and contained no other details.
35.  In a letter of 19 June 2001 the applicant requested the Republican prosecutor’s office to question the investigator from the Grozny prosecutor’s office, who had been present on 27 May 2000 during the questioning at the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD and the military commander’s office of the Staropromyslovskiy District, about the identity of the servicemen and the content of their statements made on that day.
36.  In letters of 24 August and 13 September 2001 the Republican prosecutor’s office instructed the Grozny prosecutor’s office to take more active steps in investigating Magomed Umarov’s disappearance.
37.  On 9 October 2001 the applicant wrote to the Republican prosecutor’s office, with a copy to the Special Envoy of the Russian President for Rights and Freedoms in the Chechen Republic. The applicant complained that the investigation into his son’s abduction had been inadequate and plagued with shortcomings, that those responsible had not been identified so far despite compelling evidence exposing them and that he had never been notified of any steps taken during the investigation or of its progress.
38.  On 22 October 2001 the Special Envoy of the Russian President for Rights and Freedoms in the Chechen Republic informed the applicant that his letter of 9 October 2001 had been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
39.  In November 2001 the Republican prosecutor’s office informed the applicant that the decision to suspend the investigation of the criminal case concerning his son’s abduction had been quashed and that the ongoing investigation was supervised by them. The letter contained no further details.
40.  On 18 December 2001 the Grozny prosecutor’s office replied to the Special Envoy of the Russian President for Rights and Freedoms in the Chechen Republic, with a copy to the applicant, that on 30 May 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office had opened a criminal investigation into the abduction of Magomed Umarov and the infliction of injuries on the applicant. On 30 July 2001 the investigation had been suspended owing to failure to identify the alleged perpetrators. The letter further stated that on 14 December 2001 the Republican prosecutor’s office had quashed that decision and remitted the file for further investigation and that measures aimed at establishing Magomed Umarov’s whereabouts and identifying those responsible were being taken.
41.  In a letter of 25 December 2001 the Republican prosecutor’s office informed the applicant that the investigation into his son’s disappearance was currently under way.
42.  On 19 March 2002 the Southern Federal Circuit Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office (Управление Генеральной прокуратуры РФ в Южном федеральном округе) forwarded the applicant’s complaint about the inadequate investigation into his son’s disappearance to the Republican prosecutor’s office and ordered them to submit before 1 April 2002 information regarding the investigation.
43.  On 23 May 2002 the Republican prosecutor’s office informed the applicant that the decision of 28 January 2001 to suspend proceedings in criminal case no. 12050 had been quashed and the investigation re-opened.
44.  By letter of 6 June 2002 the Southern Federal Circuit Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office transmitted the applicant’s complaint to the Republican prosecutor’s office.
45.  In a letter of 10 June 2002 the Republican prosecutor’s office stated that the applicant’s complaint of 29 May 2000 had been left without examination, as it had contained no new arguments other than those which had previously been examined and replied to.
46.  On 25 June 2002 the Republican prosecutor’s office informed the applicant that they had taken up the case opened in connection with the injuries inflicted on him and the disappearance of his son.
47.  By letter of 21 October 2002 the Chechen Department of the Interior informed the applicant’s wife that all necessary measures aimed at establishing Magomed Umarov’s whereabouts and identifying those involved in his abduction were being taken.
48.  On 21 August 2003 the prosecutor’s office of the Staropromyslovskiy District (прокуратура Старопромысловского района г. Грозного – “the Staropromyslovskiy prosecutor’s office”) notified the applicant that the proceedings in criminal case no. 12050 had been suspended on 30 August 2002 and then resumed on 18 August 2003. In a letter of 27 January 2004 they further informed the applicant that the proceedings had been adjourned on 3 September 2003 in view of the failure to establish the alleged perpetrators.
49.  The Government submitted, with reference to the information provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the following information concerning the investigation into the events of 27 May 2000.
50.  On 30 May 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office instituted criminal proceedings in connection with the infliction of bodily injuries on the applicant and the abduction of his son, under Articles 126 (2) (aggravated abduction) and 286 (3) (aggravated abuse of power) of the Russian Criminal Code. The case file was assigned the number 12050.
51.  The investigating authorities took a number of steps during the investigation. In particular, on 23 June 2000 the applicant underwent a forensic medical examination which established abrasions and bruises on his face, chest and left foot. In the Government’s submission, those injuries had “caused no harm to the applicant’s health”.
52.  The applicant was granted victim status on 30 May 2000 and questioned on that date and on 27 February 2001. His numerous requests were included in the case file. The applicant’s wife was interviewed on 21 June 2001.
53.  On 24 March 2001 and 18 January 2002 the investigators questioned one of the M. brothers, who had also been detained on 27 May 2000. M. stated that at around 5 a.m. on the date in question he had been abducted from his house in Klyuchevaya Street by unidentified masked men in camouflage uniforms and armed with automatic firearms, taken outside Grozny and put in a pit approximately two metres deep. In the pit he had seen Magomed Umarov who had then been taken away.
54.  On 28 March 2001 the Grozny prosecutor’s office received information to the effect that the personnel of the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD had not carried out any operations in the vicinity of Klyuchevaya Street on 27 May 2000.
55.  On 6 November 2001 the investigators questioned the military commander of the Staropromyslovskiy District, who stated that his office had been organised on 22 June 2000 to replace the temporary military commander’s office and that he had no information regarding documents of the temporary commander’s office.
56.  On 23 September 2003, 19 and 29 January and 18, 20 and 24 June 2005 the investigating authorities also questioned ten other witnesses, who “gave no information relevant for establishing the circumstances of Magomed Umarov’s abduction”.
57.  According to the Government, in the context of the investigation into the applicant’s beatings and his son’s disappearance, the investigators inspected the scene of the incident at 148 Klyuchevaya Street on 14 October 2004 and 27 June 2005, but those inspections “brought no positive results”.
58.  During the investigation, the Chechen Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia (Управление Федеральной службы безопасности РФ по Чеченской Республике) submitted information to the effect that Magomed Umarov had never participated in illegal armed formations.
59.  The investigating authorities sent a number of queries concerning the operation of 27 May 2000, those responsible for the abduction of the applicant’s son, or those who had information about the events of 27 May 2000, to various official bodies and sought lists of persons who had been serving in the Staropromyslovskiy VOVD in May 2000. They also checked registers of unidentified corpses, medical establishments and detention centres so as to establish whether Magomed Umarov was listed or kept there, but to no avail.
60.  On 18 June 2005 the investigating authorities questioned K. A., apparently the applicant’s neighbour, who submitted that on the day of Magomed Umarov’s abduction he had seen two Ural vehicles and men wearing camouflage uniform near the Umarov household. He had learnt about the abduction later.
61.  On 20 June 2005 the investigating authorities questioned I. H., apparently also a neighbour, who submitted that he had learnt about Magomed Umarov’s abduction from other neighbours.
62.  On 24 June 2005 the investigating authorities questioned T. M., the applicant’s neighbour. She submitted that at approximately 4 a. m. she had heard the sound of engines and had gone outside. Near 148 Klyuchevaya Street she had seen servicemen in camouflage uniform and had returned home. Later she had learnt that the servicemen had taken Magomed Umarov with them.
63.  On 18 August 2006 the investigating authorities questioned S. B., on 26 August 2006 they questioned F.D. and on 4 September 2006 S.-E. M., but those individuals submitted that they knew nothing about Magomed Umarov’s abduction. It is not clear who they were and why their statements could have been relevant.
64.  According to the Government’s submission, the investigation had been suspended and resumed on eighteen occasions, but had failed to date to identify the alleged perpetrators or to establish Magomed Umarov’s whereabouts. After the most recent resumption on 21 April 2007 the investigation was being carried out by the Staropromyslovskiy District Prosecutor’s Office and supervised by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
65.  In June 2001 the applicant lodged a complaint against the inactivity of the military and law-enforcement authorities, during the investigation into his son’s abduction and his own beatings, with the Staropromyslovskiy District Court of Grozny. In August 2001 the applicant was summoned to that court, which at the time was situated in the village of Beno-Yurt in the Nadterechny District of Chechnya, about 100 kilometres from Grozny. According to the applicant, during a meeting a judge asked him to withdraw his complaint, and then promised to help him obtain free legal aid in the proceedings. The judge allegedly explained to him that his complaint could not be examined because he had not indicated the names and positions of the officials against whom he complained. She also told him that the court would issue a procedural decision rejecting his complaint.
66.  On 18 September 2001 the applicant wrote to the Staropromyslovskiy District Court. He enquired whether he could benefit from legal aid in his case and whether the aforementioned procedural decision had been issued and requested the court to furnish him with a copy of it. He received no reply to that letter.
67.  On 1 November 2001 the applicant wrote to the President of the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic, complaining about the lack of progress in his case lodged in June 2001 with the Staropromyslovskiy District Court.
68.  On 5 December 2001 the applicant received a letter from the Staropromyslovskiy District Court, in which the judge informed him that, upon his request, his submissions to that court had been forwarded to the “Novaya Gazeta” newspaper and suggested that he contact a journalist from that newspaper. According to the applicant, he had never given his consent to the transfer of his submissions to the said newspaper.
69.  On 23 January 2002 the applicant addressed a letter to the Supreme Court of Russia. He complained about the failure to act on the part of the Staropromyslovskiy District Court and the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic. He also complained about the inefficiency of the investigation and referred to the fact that five investigators had been in charge of the case. He stated that all his complaints had been forwarded to the Grozny prosecutor’s office with the result that the criminal investigation file consisted almost entirely of his own complaints to various authorities. It appears that the applicant received no answer to that letter.
70.  Despite specific requests made by the Court on several occasions, the Government did not submit a copy of the investigation file concerning the abduction of Magomed Umarov. They submitted case-file material on 44 pages, which contained mostly decisions on suspension and resumption of the investigation and records of interviews with the applicant and another witness. Copies of those records were of very poor quality and almost illegible. Relying on the information obtained from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Government stated that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since the file contained information of a military nature and personal data concerning the witnesses or other participants in criminal proceedings. At the same time, the Government suggested that a Court delegation could have access to the file at the place where the preliminary investigation was being conducted, with the exception of “the documents [disclosing military information and personal data of the witnesses], and without the right to make copies of the case file and to transmit it to others”.